ASU's Hodges collaborates on Himalaya study

A new paper, co-authored by ASU geologist Kip Hodges, suggests that variations in monsoon climate over longer time scales also influenced the evolution of the Himalaya mountain chain, the world's highest.

The pattern in the core suggests a steady increase in East Asian monsoon intensity from 23 to 10 million years ago, followed by a steady weakening until about 4 million years ago.

"After that, the intensity began to increase once more," says Hodges. "The implication is that either the development of the plateau was not as abrupt as we might have thought, or that an abrupt uplift of the plateau at 8 to 10 million years caused a change in precipitation patterns that was not recorded in East Asia."